A major lure in my nightly search for these movies is an exciting or clever title, and on that score it's hard to beat "The Manster"(1959). I mean, besides being hilarious it's a great play on words, don't you think? "He's a man, he's a monster, he's.......(wait for it)....... a Manster"! Whoever thought that up should be given a medal, lol. I've known about "The Manster" for some time, and it will turn out that I saw it (or memorable parts of it) when I was a kid, but recently it arose on my radar once again because of our Youtube screenings. Like "Maniac", it was "recommended for you" (meaning me). And, like "Maniac", I put off watching it, in "The Manster"'s case because IMDB showed it to be, in part, a Japanese production. Now, as you know I love Japanese movies. Ozu and Mizoguchi are both in my all-time Top Ten directors. But they made serious works of art. For me, with the exception of the Godzilla/Rodan/Mothra franchise and atmospheric, supernatural films like "Onibaba" and "Kuroneko", I am not much of a fan of Japanese horror, especially the super gory kind that is now popular. I also don't think they were very good at 1950's style sci-fi, especially the cheesy kind we've been enjoying of late, so that's why I brushed "Manster" aside these past few weeks, figuring it'd be Bad Beyond Belief, or "Triple B" for short.
But then, there was that magnificent title. It kept calling to me, and because we are operating within the law of diminishing returns and needed a film to watch, I decided to re-check "The Manster"'s IMDB. Looking a little closer this time, I saw that it was actually a dual Japanese/English production, made by a company called Lopert Pictures and released by United Artists. That was good enough for me, so I started watching and was reassured in the opening scene, by the discovery that the film wasn't dubbed! That's another big no-no for me, I don't like dubbed films because the voices are almost always terrible and I'd rather read subtitles. But here, the Japanese actors all spoke fluent English - no dubbing - which improved the film's promise immensely. Buoyed by this, I dove in, and............
A Mad Scientist (Tetsu Nakamura) has a laboratory on top of a volcano, situated right next to it's crater. He has his own Theory of Evolution, in which it was exposure to occasional Cosmic Ray Events that caused animals to undergo biological mutation. He believes these events happened every thousand years or so, until after the passing of eons Man finally evolved from a one celled amoeba. For some strange reason, maybe because he's insane, he wants to try and reverse the process. Now that he's proven (to himself and us viewers, at least) that his theory is valid, he's begun to experiment with Reverse Evolution, using a Cosmic Ray Machine on his test subjects. At first, his guinea pigs have been relatives - his wife and his brother. We see them at the beginning of the movie and.....ahem......I'm sorry to report that neither is in very good shape. I'll leave you to judge for yourself, but you should know that the wife is in a cage and the brother has gotten loose and killed a whole brothel of Geisha Girls. Dr. Nakamura has to dispose of him before the cops find out, so he coaxes the brother back home and dumps him into the volcano.
Would you call that a pretty good start? I would.
After that, things have settled down. Nakamura is itching to get on with his experiments, and lucky for him, an American reporter (Peter Dyneley) has come calling, eager for an interview with this maverick genius. Nakamura is in an expansive mood, so he invites Dyneley in, offering him a glass of sake as they sit down to talk. The next thing Dyneley knows, he's awakening from a nap. "Ah, I'm sorry Doctor. I must've dozed off. Maybe it was the climb up the mountain that did it". Or, it could've been the Mickey the Doc slipped him. What he also doesn't know, but we do, is that while he was unconscious, Doctor Nakamura shot him up with something, using a hypo the size of a cigar tube. Dyneley conducts the interview anyway, though by now he isn't feeling so hot. Before he leaves, Nakamura pours him another generous glass of sake and introduces him to his attractive assistant (Terri Zimmern).
A few days later, Dyneley reports back to his editor, but by now he's a changed man - unshaven, irritable, looking like he hasn't slept. The editor lets it go, for now, just so long as Dyneley turns in his copy on time. Later, his wife calls. She's arrived in Japan wanting to see him. Being that he's a globetrotting reporter, they hardly ever are together anymore. At first, he's glad to hear from her and makes plans to meet up at his hotel. But when she arrives, he's not there. Dr. Nakamura has enticed him with a night on the town, spent at a Geisha House, with more sake and.......geishas.
All of this is followed by a second meeting with Nakamura's attractive assistant, who soon has her hooks into Dyneley enough to make him leave his wife. It took me until the end of the movie to understand what this whole subplot had to do with Dr. Nakamura's experiments, beyond the sexual aspect of bringing out the "Mr. Hyde" in Peter Dyneley. Let's just say that a line of dialogue late in the film suggests that Terri Zimmern (the assistant) may have once been a test subject herself. Think "Island of Dr. Moreau".
Much of the movie - a little too much, I think - explores Dyneley's descent into madness, and in this respect it was too similar to "Jeckyll and Hyde". I was thinking "I get it already". But then in the final half hour, "The Manster" gets rolling, and this is where it hit me that I'd seen the movie before, and that it had scared the living bejeezus out of me because I was a kid. "The Manster" was one of those movies they'd show on local TV on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon, like "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things", which I saw over and over again. But once was enough with "The Manster", because...
Well, because something happens to Peter Dyneley that I can't even tell you about because it's too horrible! It might ruin your day if I described it, but I can tell you how it starts. You see, he begins to notice changes in his hand. Remember that we're in a Jeckyll/Hyde theme here. Dyneley tries to keep his cool but he's getting more and more irritable, drinking and lashing out. He wraps the hand in a towel, but it's got a mind of it's own, as a Buddhist monk unfortunately finds out. However, all of this is pattycake compared to what he's gonna discover when he takes his shirt off.....
There's an Eye growing out of his shoulder.
And now that's really all I'm gonna tell ya, or else you won't be able to sleep tonight! :):)
I scared myself all over again watching "The Manster", when I wasn't laughing of course, and that was only at the Pure Evilness of Dr. Nakamura's deceit, as when he plies Peter Dyneley with drink, or shoots him full of serum. He's got a glint in his eye when he does these things, and you can't help but revel along with him. But later on, when "The Manster" gets crankin'......boy oh boy, you won't be laughing then.
Or will you? :):)
I guess you'll just have to watch it and see for yourself. You might even remember it from childhood like I did, and then I guarantee you'll be scared! :)
In all, I enjoyed "The Manster" very much, and this is one film I wish someone would do a restoration on, because a sharp print would improve the effectiveness immensely. As it is, the only copy I could find was a little blurry and low contrast. Not terrible, about a 6.5/10 quality, but it could look so much better. As viewed, I'm gonna give it Two Solid Thumbs Up, which would translate to Two Big Thumbs if the print were better. But watch it anyway, for the title alone and the last half hour. Long live "The Manster"! /////
It is now Wednesday evening. The sky is still covered with rain clouds, oh will it ever end? Cue George Harrison, please. I'll try to get a walk in now.......better bring my umbrella. See you tonight at the Usual Time. Stay well.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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